The Cornfield Speakeasy: A Hidden Bar in a Carlsbad Corn Maze

Overview

There is a bar hidden in a cornfield in Carlsbad, and you cannot get in without the password.

It works exactly the way that sentence suggests. You walk into the pumpkin patch at Carlsbad Strawberry Company, look for a giant blue butterfly, follow the corn until you find a door that has no business being there, knock, and say the word. The word changes every night. You get it from an Instagram story the day you go.

It's run by Pacific Coast Spirits, the grain-to-glass distillery out of Oceanside, which means the cocktails are made with spirits distilled about eight miles up the coast rather than poured from whatever the vendor tent had. It runs Fridays and Saturdays through October, 4 to 10 p.m. It's 21 and over. Dogs are welcome.

And on certain nights, the money goes somewhere good.

That's the thing worth knowing before you go: the speakeasy rotates its beneficiary charity by weekend. Kids for Peace — the Carlsbad nonprofit behind the KINDNESS MATTERS sign you've passed a hundred times on the I-5 — is the benefiting charity on October 30 and 31. That's Halloween weekend, in a secret bar, in a corn maze, for a cause. If you were going to pick a night, pick one of those two.

What You Need to Know

• What: The cornfield speakeasy, a hidden pop-up bar run by Pacific Coast Spirits inside the corn maze
• When: Every Friday and Saturday in October, 4–10 p.m.
• Where: Carlsbad Strawberry Company, 1050 Cannon Road, Carlsbad, CA 92008
• Ages: 21 and over
• Getting in: Find the giant blue butterfly, follow the corn to the hidden door, and give the day's password. It changes every night.
• The password: Posted to Instagram stories the day you plan to go — check @pacificcoastspirits and, on their benefit nights, @kidsforpeace
• Dogs: Welcome
• Payment: Card only — past seasons have been cashless
• Kids for Peace benefit nights: October 30 and 31

How to Actually Find It

• Go to the pumpkin patch first. The speakeasy isn't a separate venue with its own entrance off Cannon Road. It's inside the farm, in the corn.
• Look for the giant blue butterfly. That's the landmark Kids for Peace points people to, and it's where the walk into the corn starts.
• Get the password before you leave the house. It's posted the morning of, it's different every night, and there is no version of this where you talk your way in without it. Check the Instagram story before you drive up.
• Knock. There's a door in the corn. That's the whole mechanic, and it's genuinely fun the first time.
• Bring a card. It's been card-only in past seasons, so don't plan on cash.

What It's Actually Like

• The drinks are the real thing. Pacific Coast Spirits distills its own base spirits in Oceanside and has the awards to go with it. This is a distillery running a seasonal bar, not a beverage cart.
• It's a bar, not a haunted house. No actors, no jump scares. The corn maze around it has those — this is the opposite, a place to sit down in the middle of it.
• It's dog friendly, which almost nothing else like this is.
• It's 21+, so this is the one part of the farm that isn't a family activity. Plan accordingly if you're coming with kids in tow.
• The hours run past the rest of the farm. Most of the patch's daytime activities shut down at 5:30 p.m. The speakeasy goes to 10.

Who Kids for Peace Is

You already know their work even if you don't know the name.

• They made the KINDNESS MATTERS sign that sits in the strawberry fields along the I-5 — the one you've driven past for years.
• They're a global nonprofit that started in Carlsbad. Co-founded and led by executive director Jill McManigal.
• Their signature program is the Great Kindness Challenge, a kindness initiative for pre-K through high school.
• The scale is not small. By their own count: more than 22 million youth engaged, 123 countries involved, 96 chapters worldwide, and two schools, three playgrounds and a health clinic built.
• On their benefit nights, Kids for Peace says half of proceeds are split between the organization and the Farm Bureau, supporting local farmers.

Good to Know

• Check which charity is benefiting the night you go. It rotates by weekend. If supporting Kids for Peace specifically is the point of your trip, October 30 and 31 are the nights.
• Confirm what you'll pay to get on the farm. General admission to the pumpkin patch runs $25 on October weekends ($20 Monday through Thursday), and the speakeasy itself has no published cover. The farm's website doesn't spell out how evening speakeasy guests are charged, so call ahead at (760) 603-9608 if the number matters to you.
• The haunted maze is a separate ticket. It's $25 on Fridays and Saturdays in October and benefits the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation — a different event and a different cause from the speakeasy.
• October weekends are the farm's busiest. The patch is open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1050 Cannon Road backs up. Build in time.
• Season ends November 8. The pumpkin patch runs through then, but the speakeasy is an October-weekends thing only.

Making a day of it in Carlsbad? Campfire is the obvious dinner before or after, and our guide to San Diego pumpkin patches covers how this farm stacks up against the rest of the county. If North County is somewhere you're considering, Carlsbad vs. Oceanside runs the comparison.